


you can't take the sky from me

by mrsenjolras



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 05:39:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12599424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsenjolras/pseuds/mrsenjolras
Summary: “Alright,” Nick says eventually. “You can stay till our next stop. But it’s not gonna come free.” Louis stiffens. He’s got money, sure, but he’s worried that that’s not the kind of payment Nick is looking for. “Oh, don’t look so scared,” Nick says, though. “We’re not stopping till we’re in the next system. Can you work?”“Oh,” Louis says, relieved. “Yeah, I can do pretty much anything.”“Great, well, welcome aboard thePig Dog,” Nick says, extending a hand out for Louis to shake. Louis takes it, decidedly not thinking about how it’s larger than his own and also very warm and quite soft, and instead cocks his head.“Wait, your ship is calledthe Pig Dog?”[Or: the one where Louis stows away and gets more than he bargained for.]





	you can't take the sky from me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neonmoonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoonlight/gifts).



> hiiii! as soon as i saw your prompt for a space au i got super excited and thought of doing a firefly au, hope you don't mind. it's not too specific as a firefly au though, so even if you don't like the show hopefully you will still enjoy this! also hope you don't mind me including the little mix girls and my choices of side ships; all in all i hope you like it!! :)
> 
> special thanks to my beta for doing a great job and to the mods of this fest for running it! 
> 
> title from the firefly theme song lol

Louis rounds the corner quickly, ducking his head and pulling his collar up to try to hide his face. 

He's pretty sure he lost the thugs chasing him a few blocks ago, but you can never be too careful. He needs to get off this planet, ASAP, because so long as he's on it Markus can track him. This was always a risk, especially working for someone as shady as Markus, but Louis is always careful to stay on his good side--or, he had done until his last assignment.

He weaves through the crowd in the bustling market, heading to where the merchant ships are docked. He might be able to blag his way onto a ship, work for a while to pay his way. He thinks of heading for one of the larger vessels, since they’re usually willing to pick up workers, when he catches sight of one of Markus’s goons standing at the edge of the marketplace and he dives behind the closest stall before he’s seen. The girl working there shoots him a look, but he sends her his most charming smile and she just rolls her eyes and goes back to tending to her goods. Louis scans the horizon, trying to find an escape route before the guy now searching through the crowd finds him. 

He’s starting to panic a tiny bit, unable to find a straight route out, when he sees it--a smaller, more worn-out ship docked a bit further away, and--most importantly--unguarded. He checks to make sure the coast is clear one last time before he leaves the safety of the stall, walking as quickly as possible towards the ship while remaining inconspicuous. He makes it successfully, and sneaks onboard, quickly hiding between two large crates. A few minutes after he hides, he hears the sound of boots walking up the metal ramp back into the ship, and he ducks down further to avoid being seen. The boots go straight past him, and shortly after the cargo door closes. Louis slumps back against the crate, happy to be in the clear.

*

It doesn’t last long. Louis is planning on stowing away in the cargo bay until the next planet, then getting off and figuring out where to go from there. It’s not the best of plans, but Louis’ been flying by the seat of his pants for years now and it’s never come back to bite him in any major way. Sure, his current situation isn’t _ideal_ , but it’s certainly better than whatever Markus had planned for him back planetside, so he’ll take it. He’s actually getting quite comfortable when the sound of boots returns to the cargo hold and he tenses again. 

It’s no use, because those boots stroll right up to his hiding spot and stop, and Louis’ eyes slowly move upwards, taking in the ratty boots, pants with rips in the knees, and ridiculous patterned shirt before he reaches the man’s face. It’s a nice face, Louis thinks to himself, with an angled jaw and light brown eyes. But now is not exactly the time to be admiring.

“Er, hello,” Louis says, awkwardly, still on the ground.

“Hiya,” the other bloke says. “Care to tell me what you’re doing on my ship?” He has a casual tone to his voice, like he’s asking about the weather. 

Louis stands slowly, bringing himself up to full height. He’s irritated to find that even as he stands fully straight, the guy in front of him still has inches on him. “You’re the captain?” Louis asks, failing to keep the skeptical tone out of his voice. This guy is young, much younger than most captains are, and his clothes certainly don’t scream “authority.”

“Yep,” the man replies, popping the ‘p’. “Nick Grimshaw, at your service. Now, what’s got you hiding out here with my cargo?”

“You don’t sound surprised to find me here,” Louis challenges.

“You aren’t the first stowaway we’ve had,” Nick responds. “Usually they have good reason. What’s yours?”

Louis weighs his options, wondering whether or not he should tell the truth. Nick just looks at him, one eyebrow raised. “I got caught in some bad business,” he says finally, thinking that’s ambiguous enough that he won’t have to reveal the exact nature of his business, but answer enough that Nick probably won’t question further. 

He’s right, and Nick simply nods, calculating look on his face as he looks Louis up and down. Louis resists the urge to cross his arms over his chest, feeling exposed. “Alright,” Nick says eventually. “You can stay till our next stop. But it’s not gonna come free.” Louis stiffens. He’s got money, sure, but he’s worried that that’s not the kind of payment Nick is looking for. “Oh, don’t look so scared,” Nick says, though. “We’re not stopping till we’re in the next system. Can you work?”

“Oh,” Louis says, relieved. “Yeah, I can do pretty much anything.”

“Great, well, welcome aboard the _Pig Dog_ ,” Nick says, extending a hand out for Louis to shake. Louis takes it, decidedly not thinking about how it’s larger than his own and also very warm and quite soft, and instead cocks his head. 

“Wait, your ship is called _the Pig Dog_?”

*

Twenty minutes later, Louis is sat in the kitchen of the ship with Nick, waiting to be introduced to the rest of the crew. Nick is in the corner, leaning up against the counter with a slightly sour look on his face--apparently Louis’ distaste for his choice of name is still bothering him. _Whatever_ , Louis thinks, eyes returning to study the pattern of wood on the table in front of him, _it’s a stupid name anyway_. 

His thoughts are interrupted as the door to the kitchen bursts open and three boys tumble inside, pushing at each other lightly and laughing. They stop short when they notice Louis at the table, smiles morphing into looks of confusion. Two of them hang back, looking at Louis warily, but the third only pauses a moment before sitting down in the chair opposite Louis, sticking his hand out for Louis to shake.

“Hey, I’m Niall Horan, pilot. You must be the reason for this meeting,” he says, cheerful, and Louis takes his hand cautiously. 

“Um, Louis Tomlinson,” he says, but the door opens again before he can say anything else. This time, a group of girls walk into the room. One of them, with long, light brown hair and tan skin, walks straight for Niall and sits down in his lap, giving him a quick kiss before noticing Louis across the table.

“Who are you?” she asks bluntly, and Louis is suddenly acutely aware of everyone in the room’s eyes on him. He shifts uncomfortably. Niall seems to notice, and takes pity on him. 

“That’s Louis,” he says. “I’m not sure what he’s doing here, though.” He shoots a curious glance at Nick, who’s still stood against the cabinets. 

“Caught him stowing away in the cargo hold. Says he can work, so he’ll be staying till our next stop,” Nick says, shrugging a bit. Immediately, his crew bursts into conversation. 

“Our next stop isn’t until the next system!”

“Where’s he going to go?”

“What work can he do?”

“How do we know he can be trusted?”

The last question comes from one of the lads standing behind Niall, the one with the curly hair and wide green eyes. It causes a hush to fall over the room immediately, and Nick steps forward, moving closer to the table and thus Louis. Louis shifts again as the brunette boy stares him down. Nick’s presence behind his chair is comforting, takes a bit of the weight of the other boy’s stare off his shoulders. 

“He can be trusted because I say he can,” Nick says, and there’s an edge in his voice that wasn’t there before. The boy across the table stands down, though the look in his eye says he still wouldn’t trust Louis as far as he could throw him. Louis can’t say he blames him--he himself isn’t sure if he can trust the people around him, though no one’s made any move yet to hurt him. 

He’s been on his own for a while now, mostly following wherever the money took him and turning a blind eye to whatever shady business his employers were getting into. He has no idea if this crew is Alliance, or Resistance, or what--though the run-down nature of the ship leads him to believe they aren’t getting financial support from the Alliance. Either way, he thinks he needs to keep his guard up around them, lest they find out too much about him and decide they don’t like what they hear. 

For now, though, Louis just smiles as the crew introduces themselves and settles in for dinner. He stays quiet as he learns about this positions on the ship (mostly from Niall): Niall the pilot, his wife Jade the first mate, Harry--the boy who had challenged Louis’ trustworthiness--the doctor, Liam the mechanic, and finally the three girls: Jesy, Perrie, and Leigh-Anne, who do a whole number of odd and varied tasks on the ship that Louis can’t keep track of. Nick watches over them all, occasionally butting in with a joke or a sly comment that will send the table into laughter. The fondness that runs between all of them is clear; it sort of reminds Louis of the dinners he used to have at home when he was younger, with everyone talking all over each other and having a million conversations at once. The reminder of home dampens his mood a bit, as thinking of the family he left behind always does, but Nick pulls him out of it quickly when he claps his hands together. 

“So, we have to figure out what to do with our newest addition,” he says, and everyone’s eyes once again return to Louis. It’s not Louis’ favorite feeling. “Who’s got open space in their bunk?”

“Harry’s bunk is empty,” Liam offers, then abruptly shuts his mouth and turns bright red when everyone turns away from Louis to look at him. 

“Oh, is it?” Nick asks slyly, and Liam somehow turns redder. Louis is vaguely concerned about his health, but then again it seems as though the ship’s doctor has a close eye on him. Harry’s sat next to him, blushing a bit too but not as bad as Liam, while everyone starts ribbing them about what is apparently a rather new relationship. Eventually they lay off, and Nick looks back at Louis with a grin still on his face. “Alright, that’s settled, you can stay in Harry’s bunk. Why don’t you start off tomorrow helping Liam in the engine room?”

Louis just nods, and tries not to react when Nick gives him a blinding smile. 

*

Nick walks him to his bunk later that night, Harry’s eyes tracking them with distrust as they go. “Pretty sure your doctor thinks I’m going to murder you all in your sleep,” Louis says as soon as they’re out of earshot. Nick snorts. 

“You’re fine, Harry’s just,” he pauses for a moment, “protective,” he settles on finally, and now it’s Louis’ turn to snort. 

“You could say that again.”

“Harry’s just protective,” Nick says again, cheerfully, and Louis rolls his eyes. 

“You think you’re cute, huh?” he says. Belatedly, he wonders if the banter is too much--his inability to bite his tongue has gotten him into quite a few sticky situations over the years. Nick just shoots him a beaming smile, though. 

“I know I am,” he sing-songs, before drawing to a halt in front of one of the doors. “This is Harry’s bunk--well, yours now I guess. Everything should be in there, help yourself, and I’ll be back in the morning to take you down to the engine room.”

Louis scoffs. “I don’t need an escort.”

“Sorry, love, but while I might trust you more than others on the crew, I don’t really need a stranger getting lost on my ship and sniffing around where he shouldn’t be. I’ll see you in the morning,” Nick replies, and then he walks off, leaving Louis standing there, confused and a bit indignant. 

He shakes his head after a moment, turning and climbing the ladder down into the bunk that is now, apparently, his.

*

It’s only later, after rinsing off in the attached bathroom and lying down on the cot attached to the wall, that he remembers Nick’s words and wonders what, exactly, an innocent cargo ship may hold that he shouldn’t be sniffing around.

*

Louis is awoken abruptly by the sound of someone pounding on the door to his bunk. 

“Wakey-wakey!” Nick’s voice calls through the metal, and Louis groans, flopping back down onto the bed and attempting to smother himself with his pillow. Nick must be able to hear him, because he just tuts and continues knocking. “Come on, Tomlinson, you told me you’d work so it’s time to work.”

“I’m coming!” Louis calls, forcing himself to an upright position. “You’re worse than me mum!”

“Quickly, sweetie, breakfast is getting cold!” Nick’s voice takes on a sickly sweet, high-pitched tone. Louis groans again. What the hell has he gotten himself into?

*

Fifteen minutes later, after Louis had forced himself out of bed and into clean clothes, Louis is scarfing down a breakfast bar and struggling to keep up with Nick’s stupidly long legs as they walk to the engine room. Nick is prattling on a mile a minute about what kind of ship the _Pig Dog_ is, how long he’s had her, and what sorts of mishaps Liam has had to fix. It’s far too early for Louis’ mind to comprehend any of it, but he can admit to himself that he enjoys the soothing tone of Nick’s voice.

“God, you really are a morning person, aren’t you?” he grumbles instead of voicing that thought aloud. Nick just turns and grins at him.

“Sure am! Morning’s the best time to get things done, innit?” Nick asks cheerily, and Louis just grumbles some more. Nick seems to get even more delight out of Louis’ surliness, chattering on and teasing him. Louis rolls his eyes so much he nearly gets dizzy. 

Eventually, they come upon a door and Nick pauses outside. “Head down the steps, turn to the left, and you’re at the engine room. I’ve got to get up to the bridge so I’m just going to leave you here, try not to get lost, yeah? Shout for Liam if you do.”

“How do I know this is really the engine room and you’re not just keeping some sort of alien monster down here to eat me?” Louis asks.

“Darling,” Nick laughs. “You’re much too pretty for me to send to the monster. And anyway, we keep him on the other side of the ship.”

Louis flounders, not exactly sure what to say in response, and Nick takes the opportunity to take his leave, giving Louis a quick squeeze on the shoulder before he disappears around the corner. Louis stands there for a second staring at where Nick had just stood before he shakes himself off and opens the door to the engine room. 

He heads down the stairs and to the left like Nick instructed, following the sounds of machinery. As he turns the corner to the engine room, he stops short, because right in front of him Harry has Liam pressed up against the wall and his tongue down Liam’s throat. 

Louis stands there for a second, watching with a sort of morbid curiosity, before he clears his throat. 

The other boys spring apart immediately, Liam’s hands flying up to fix his hair as his cheeks flush red, while Harry simply tucks his hands in his pockets, staring Louis down. 

“Hiya,” Louis says. “Nick told me I would be helping Liam out today? I can come back, though, if you’re busy.”

“No, no it’s fine,” Liam says quickly. “Harry was just leaving.” Louis smirks, making sure not to angle his body away when Harry starts to walk down the hallway towards him, forcing Harry to either sidle against the wall or bump directly into Louis’ shoulder. Harry ends up squeezing around him with a sour look on his face while Louis attempts to hold back his laughter. When he looks back to Liam, he’s standing there with a slightly reproving look, though there’s a bit of mirth dancing in his eyes that Louis likes. 

“So, what do you need from me?” Louis asks, clapping his hands together. “I’ll admit, I’ve not got too much experience with engines, but I am pretty good at holding things for other people.”

Liam laughs. “Well, she’s running pretty smooth now, you know,” he says, gesturing with his head for Louis to follow him as he heads down the hall. They step through another doorway, and Louis comes face to face with the engine of the ship, churning and turning away. Liam steps up to the engine comfortably, running a hand along it like something precious. “She’s a bit old, you know, this model of ship’s out of production now, but we’ve got an agreement, me and her.”

“What’s that then?”

“Oh, that she keeps the ship going and I make sure they don’t put too much stress on her,” Liam smiles at Louis, wiping off a bit of grease on his already stained coveralls. “So really, you’ll probably be pretty bored down here, unless you wanted to do me a favor?”

“Yeah, sure,” Louis shrugs. “S’what I’m here for.”

“Great!” Liam beams at him, cheeks crinkling up until his eyes almost disappear. Louis has no idea what to make of him. “I’ve got something I need you to bring up to the bridge, for Niall.” He climbs around the various machinery until he gets to a small worktable shoved up in the corner, grabbing something before climbing back around and handing it to Louis. 

Louis takes it. It’s a small bit of scrap metal, twisted and reshaped until it’s taken the form of a horse, mid-gallop. He looks back up at Liam, who’s standing with his hand rubbing over the back of his neck. “You made this?”

“Yeah,” Liam shrugs. “I, uh, like to tinker a bit. You know, when I’ve got some free time. Niall, he likes horses, so he’s got a little collection up there on the bridge.” 

Louis stands there for a second, taking Liam in. Something about him, maybe just the real earnestness that Louis hasn’t had in his life for a long while, reminds him of his little sisters back home. “You know, Liam, I didn’t think people like you still existed in the galaxy.”

Liam gives him that same smile again, the one that takes up his whole face. “Thanks!” he says cheerfully. “So, you think you can take that up to Niall for me?”

“Sure,” Louis says confidently, though he’s not sure he won’t get lost on the way there. Liam seems to have faith in him, though, so he sets back off from where he came. 

He makes it back to his bunk just fine, then stands there for a bit looking down two different hallways and weighing which one seems more likely to get him to the bridge. They look identical, so he shrugs and heads down the left one.

It turns out to be the right choice, because after walking for only a bit longer he begins to hear voices. He recognizes one of them as Nick’s, and speeds up a bit, but he stops just outside the door when he hears Harry’s voice chime in. 

“You can’t be serious,” Harry says. “We can’t go with a bloody stowaway on board!” Louis stiffens. They’re talking about him. 

“We have a job to do,” Nick sighs in response. “They’re expecting the delivery.”

“There’s no way to do it another time?” That’s Jade’s voice, Louis thinks.

“Not when we’re flying into Alliance airspace.” Niall.

“We do the job as promised,” Nick says, effectively ending the conversation. “Louis, you can come in now,” he says afterwards, and Louis jumps, wondering how exactly Nick knew he was there. He turns the corner slowly, stepping into the room and taking in the stiff postures of Harry, Jade, and Niall--only Nick is relaxed, leaning up against a control panel with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and a wry smile on his face as he looks at Louis. 

“Er, hello,” Louis says, waving slightly with one hand. 

“Hiya,” Nick says. “Thought I told you to stay with Liam in the engine room.”

Louis bristles a bit, never one to handle orders well. “Special delivery for Niall,” he responds, holding up the metal horse in his and and wiggling it around a bit.

“Oh, sick!” Niall says, sitting up in his chair and reaching for the trinket. “Ah, Payno’s outdone himself.” He continues inspecting it while Louis turns back to the others in the room. 

“So, you’re smugglers then?” he asks casually, and Harry practically jumps with how quickly his posture stiffens, glaring at Louis like he’s trying to kill him with his eyes. “Down, Harry. I’m a smuggler too, how the hell else would I end up so fucked I needed to stow away on a random ship to get away from my last job?”

Nick snorts, and Harry shoots him a betrayed look. “Well, at least now we don’t have to worry about completing our job,” he shrugs. 

“Where are we going, anyway?” Louis asks, more comfortable now and propping himself up against the panel behind him. 

“Border planet,” Nick responds. “Technically under Alliance control, but they don’t give a shit about it so they can’t get the supplies they need, ones we can easily provide by going through the right channels.”

Seems standard enough, Louis thinks. “What’s the planet called?”

“DCR-15,” Nick responds. “There’s only a few settlements there, but we’re doing business with the main one.” He keeps talking, but Louis has tuned him out, suddenly feeling cold. 

“When are we getting there?” he interrupts abruptly, Nick cutting himself off with a surprised look. He’s not the only one; Niall’s looking at him curiously as well and Jade’s got her head tilted to the side while she watches him. Louis realizes belatedly his hands are curled so tightly around the panel behind him that his knuckles are white. 

“Um, should be a week or so?” Niall says slowly, still looking at Louis warily. 

“Right,” Louis says, trying to shake himself free of what’s gotten hold of him. “You done business with them before?” At the shake of Nick’s head, he nods. “Right,” he says again. “I’m coming with you, and I’m doing the talking, okay?” 

Nick opens his mouth, probably to protest, but Louis cuts him off before he can say anything. “Trust me.” 

Nick closes his mouth and looks at Louis for a long while, assessing, before he slowly and silently nods his head. Louis nods back, and it takes another long while before they look away from each other. 

*

Louis spends the next week keeping his head down, working whatever menial tasks the ship needs whilst trying to avoid the curious glances sent to him by the rest of the crew. Evidently word had gotten out about Louis’ insistence on attending the mission to the members of crew who weren’t in the room, and Louis can tell that everyone wants to know more, but he refuses to give in. They’ll all find out soon enough anyway, and he’d prefer to keep his privacy a bit longer. 

It doesn’t stop the looks, though, or the way Liam will drop completely unsubtle hints that he’s available to talk if Louis needs it, or the calculating gazes Niall sends him over the table while they eat. The only one who seems to respect Louis’ silence and doesn't show even a bit of curiosity is Nick, and Louis finds himself spending more and more time around the captain. 

They sit together at the dinner table long after the rest of the crew has gone to bed, chatting and ribbing each other. They almost always end up at the same argument, circling around their reasons for smuggling--Nick doesn’t understand how Louis can just follow where the money takes him with no care of the consequences, and Louis doesn’t see the point in trying to stand up for a cause when he’s mostly concerned with getting food in his mouth and a roof over his head. 

“Come on,” Nick sighs after Louis expresses this yet again. “There has to be _something_ , like, you can’t just believe in nothing!”

Louis shrugs. “I don’t know, I mean, I’ve seen people in the Rebellion who are just as corrupt as those in the Alliance. After a while, it just doesn’t make a difference anymore.”

Nick throws his arms up into the air, exasperated. “I don’t understand you,” he says, and Louis grins. 

“That’s how I like it,” he responds, and Nick laughs. They sit in silence for a bit, but it’s comfortable, a world away from the tense silence they had stood in the first time Louis was in the kitchen. Eventually, Nick breaks it. 

“You’ve never told me what exactly it was that brought you here,” he says, and Louis must make a face, because he immediately holds his hands up to placate him. “Not that you have to! I was just, you know, curious.”

Louis sighs. “I can tell you, it’s not like--there’s no big story to it. I was working with this guy, Markus, and he’d had me do jobs before, like, no big deal, but this time--this time,” he pauses, takes a breath. “I didn’t know what the job was until I got there, right? It was just, go here, get this box, bring it back, no questions asked. So I went.” 

He pauses again, this time so long Nick reaches forward and rests a hand on this forearm, lightly stroking his thumb back and forth. Louis takes another breath and begins again. 

“It was kids. Sick kids. He wanted me to steal their medicine. Like, I know they were in an Alliance hospital and their parents are probably corrupt Alliance officials and _whatever_ , but they were just kids. Innocent. I couldn’t take it from them. They didn’t deserve to die,” he finishes, and he looks up at Nick with an almost challenging look in his eye. 

“They didn’t,” Nick says softly, hand still on Louis’ arm. “You’re right.”

“Hold on, are you agreeing with me on something?” Louis jokes, perhaps too forced, too desperate to change the subject. 

“Don’t get used to it,” Nick jokes back, and Louis’ shoulders slump, relieved.

*

Two days later, Louis is headed towards the kitchen, late since he’d had to stop at his bunk and wash up after getting covered practically head to toe in grease in the engine room with Liam, when he hears voices that pull him up short. It’s strange, since usually everyone is very punctual with mealtimes on this ship, and he knew he was at least ten minutes late by this point. He stalls, one ear turned to the conversation happening just around the corner.

“I just don’t _get it_ ,” the first voice says, and Louis recognizes it as Harry’s. 

“What don’t you get?” That’s Nick, and Louis’ ears prick up. 

“I don’t get how you keep defending him,” Harry says, and Louis realizes belatedly they’re discussing him. “How you can just _trust_ him.”

Louis strains his ears, but he can’t pick up what Nick’s saying, if Nick’s saying anything at all. He must, because Harry speaks again a moment later. 

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

“Yeah,” Nick says quietly, and then there’s footsteps drawing nearer. Louis dives back behind the archway, pressing himself fully against the wall to hide from view. He’s safe, though, since they turn the opposite way and head for the kitchen, chattering on about something else. Louis stays in his position for a second, relieved that he wasn’t caught eavesdropping this time, but also overwhelmingly confused. 

_It’s like that_ , Harry had said. But what the hell was he talking about?

*

Louis doesn’t get an answer, though whatever it was seems to have finally thawed Harry’s negativity towards him--he even flashes Louis a slight smile when they pass each other in the halls. Louis would be more concerned about the conversation if it weren’t for the fact that they were quickly approaching DCR-15’s airspace and Louis was too busy mentally preparing himself for landing. 

When they’re close, Niall sends an announcement out for them to strap in as he enters the planet’s atmosphere, and Louis does his best to stay calm as he looks out the window and watches the planet come closer into view. When they make it through the atmosphere and the ground is rapidly approaching, Louis and the rest of the immediate ground crew (Nick, Jade, Jesy, and Perrie) gather together in the cargo hold, and Nick lays out the plan. 

“Alright, shouldn’t be too complicated. Niall, Harry, Liam, and Leigh-Anne are staying on board to keep everything in shape. I know we haven’t traded with this group before, but apparently they’ll be sending a convoy out to meet us and complete the exchange. Barring any unforeseen complications, we should be out and on our way in a couple hours.”

Louis clears his throat. “Let me do the talking,” he says, and the rest of the group turn to him. He doesn’t look at the girls, keeping his eyes locked on Nick’s. “Just, let me.”

Nick looks back at him unwaveringly. “Alright. Louis does the talking. Now let’s do this.”

The bay door slowly starts to open, revealing the first glimpse of a field that’s mostly barren. Scrubs of grass dot the landscape periodically, but really the only thing that breaks the monotonous landscape is the small cluster of people standing about a hundred yards away from the ship.

Louis follows Nick off the ship slowly, taking in his surroundings carefully as they approach the group. When they get close enough, a smirk takes over his face. 

“Stanley Lucas!” he calls out. “Since when do you go out on supply runs?”

A look of surprise crosses Stan’s face quickly before it’s covered up by a matching smirk. “Since _someone_ decided to run off and go see the stars,” he shoots back, and Louis laughs, striding forward to pull Stan into a hug. 

“Missed you, mate,” he says quietly into Stan’s shoulder. 

“Same. We all did. Does--?” Louis cuts him off with a shake of his head and Stan whistles lowly. “Well, good luck with that one.”

Louis pulls away, giving Stan a quick punch on the shoulder, and turns to the boy on Stan’s left. “Oli! Have you gotten more ginger since I left?” He goes in for another hug, but a hand on his arm stops him.

He turns back and sees Nick standing behind him, looking at a point somewhere over Louis’ right shoulder. “Can we talk?” he says shortly, and the “okay” is barely out of Louis’ mouth before he’s being tugged back towards the ship. The girls follow, and when they get to the end of the ramp leading back into the cargo hold Louis can see that the rest of the crew are standing at the top. Everyone’s looking at him curiously, except Nick, who looks betrayed.

“Care to explain?” Nick says, his voice clipped. 

“Uh,” Louis says. “Welcome to Donny, my home planet?”

“Why--” Nick sighs, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

_Why didn’t you trust me_ , he doesn’t say, but Louis still hears it, and his heart drops to the pit of his stomach. 

“I never talk about it. It’s, I mean, I haven’t been back here in years. Not since I left,” he pauses, looks around at them all before turning back to Nick. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do. I trust all of you. I’m just not good at opening up, like. Plus it always hurt too much to talk about, so I got in the habit of not saying anything about my past.” He takes a deep breath and prays that Nick doesn’t hate him. 

There’s a pause, almost like everyone is collectively holding their breath, and, surprisingly, it’s Harry who breaks it. “Well, I’m guessing we’re staying a bit longer, then?”

Louis looks at him in surprise. “Why would we do that?”

“So you can get some time at home, Louis, obviously,” Nick says, running a hand through his hair. “Come along now, let’s get this job done.” He walks off purposefully, and though it seemed as though he had gotten himself back together by the end of the conversation, Louis still thinks something’s wrong, and it leaves him feeling unbalanced. He trails after the rest of the crew back to where Stan, Oli, and Cal are standing, but the greetings and hugs from his old mates help to pull him out of it. He still can’t help himself from shooting looks over at Nick throughout the transaction and the walk back to the settlement after business concludes. 

*

There are a few people waiting at the outskirts of town. Louis remembers this, the protocol, always have backup waiting on trading missions in case it goes south. They always had a few cruisers, beat up and running more on hope and determination than anything else, but always able to get you out to the meeting point if needed. He can see them perk up when they spot the group coming back, and hopes they hold back phaser fire once they realize there’s more returning than went out in the first place. 

Stan whistles out the all clear, and the group relaxes. That is, until they come closer and one of them peels off and starts running toward their group--no, towards _Louis_. There’s a bit of confusion amongst the crew, but even after five years away Louis recognizes that blonde hair. 

Lottie crashes into him, nearly toppling the both of them over, and then starts hitting at his chest. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asks, each word punctuated with another punch to his chest. Louis can see Perrie and Jesy out of the corner of his eye, stances turned defensive and hands slowly reaching for the phasers at their belts, but Louis raises a hand to calm them down. 

“Hiya, Lottie,” he says, reaching around and pulling her into a hug, even as she’s still weakly beating at his chest. “Miss me?”

She shoves him away, quickly wiping under her eyes. “Shut up,” she says, but she doesn’t protest when Louis slings an arm over her shoulder and tugs her into his side. “Mum is gonna kill you.”

“Yeah,” Louis replies. “Reckon so.” Nick, standing off to the side, coughs a little. “Oh! Everyone, this is my little sister Lottie. Lottie, this is everyone.”

“Didn’t know you had a sister,” Niall says, cheerfully enough. Louis avoids making eye contact with Nick. 

“Got four of ‘em, don’t I?” he says, hoping to keep the conversation light, but it’s Lottie stiffening next to him that nabs his attention. 

“Uh, five, actually,” she says. “And a brother. Mum had twins. They’re two now.”

Louis stands there, gobsmacked. He knew he had missed out on a lot, obviously, that’s what he gets from running off with no word to where he was going and no method of communication to reach home. But he had always thought it would be small things, stuff from the girls in school or some exciting new toy they got in a trade. The idea of his mum having two new babies while he was gone leaves him off-balanced.

“Well, then,” he says, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “Why don’t we go meet them?”

*

As they approach the house Louis grew up in, Louis falls back a bit, falling into step with Nick, who had pulled back as they walked through the town. The rest of the group walks ahead, seemingly already the best of friends--the girls had latched onto Lottie immediately, complimenting her eye makeup, and the lads are swapping stories with Stan and Cal and Oli. Only Nick had stayed silent for the whole walk, and it’s so out of character for him that Louis knows he’s still smarting from earlier. 

“Hey,” he says lowly, leaning over to bump his shoulder against Nick’s. “Listen, I’m sorry--”

“S’fine,” Nick cuts him off. “No big deal.”

“ _No_ ,” Louis insists. “It is. Here I’ve been asking you to trust me all over the place, and you did even though it fucked up your friendship with Harry--don’t try to tell me it didn’t, just because he’s gotten over it now doesn’t mean I didn’t see the tension--and even with all that I couldn’t do you the same courtesy. I should have told you when I found out where we were going. I shouldn’t have blindsided you back there. And I’m sorry I did.”

Nick lets out a slow breath. “Thanks,” he says quietly. “I just--I want you to know that you can trust me. With things like this in the future. Even if you don’t want the rest of crew to find out. I can keep my mouth shut, when it comes to important things.”

“So you’re telling me all this time the only thing I needed to do to make you shut up was tell you my secrets?” Louis jokes, laughing when Nick shoves at his shoulder, but he sobers up quickly. “I do trust you, you know. I really do.”

“Yeah, yeah, now you’re just stalling because you don’t want your mum to kill you,” Nick laughs, and Louis smiles, though Nick isn’t _entirely_ wrong. 

They’re rapidly approaching the house Louis grew up in, and the pit of dread in his stomach is growing steadily. Next to it is a second feeling, one that grows at the sight of Nick’s smile, but he pushes it away quickly. No need to make things more complicated than they already are. 

“Go on, I think your sister is waiting for you,” Nick continues, nodding his head up at where Lottie is looking back at them curiously.

“We’re good, then?” Louis asks, wanting to make sure.

“Yeah, we’re good, now _go_ ,” Nick replies, pushing him forward.

“Ugh,” Louis groans. “Are you sure I have to? No more heart to hearts we could be having?”

“Nope,” Nick grins. “Think you should introduce me to the rest of your family.”

Louis laughs. “Jesus, you must have a death wish. They’re all just like younger versions of me, who would want that?”

Nick doesn’t answer, though there’s a soft look on his face that Louis can’t parse. He doesn’t have time to, even, since Lottie is grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door of their house, and then the door is opening and Louis’ mum is stood there and all hell breaks loose. 

*

Later, after Louis’ mum has yelled his ear off, given him a massive hug, yelled a bit more and cried on him, and after his other sisters have all come and cried and yelled some more, _and_ after he’s been introduced to his younger siblings and his mum’s new husband--after all that, he sits down with his mum in the kitchen, cup of tea in his hand and one ear listening to the havoc occurring in the next room as everyone else gets acquainted. 

“So,” Jay says, wrapping her hands around her mug. “I like your new friends.”

“Yeah,” he huffs a bit of a laugh, rubbing at the back of his neck. “They’re pretty alright, I guess.”

“Hm,” she hums, taking a sip of her tea. “That Nick, he seems really nice.”

“Mum,” Louis groans, resisting the urge to bang his head down on the table. “Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything!” she protests, but there’s a twinkle in her eye. She’s always been able to do this, been able to tell when he’s had a crush before he’s told anyone. 

Not that he has a crush on Nick. Definitely not. 

“Tell me more about him?” his mum asks.

“I dunno, he's the captain of the crew. I, uh, sorta stowed away? It was an emergency!” he defends when he sees the look on her face. “And anyway, he let me stay, put me to work, defended me when some of the other crew didn't trust me.” He looks out at the living room, where Nick is stomping around with Doris on his back, Ernie hooked onto one of his legs and both laughing wildly. “I'm still not sure why he did it,” he continues softly.

Jay leans over and rests her hand on top of Louis’. “I think maybe you should talk to him. Sounds like you have a bit to discuss.”

“But _Mum_ ,” he whines. “What if--what if he doesn't?” He can't bring himself to finish that sentence, not sure what he even wants the end of that sentence to be.

Jay pats his hand twice. “You’ll never know if you don't ask,” she says, squeezing his hand one last time before she gets up and heads into the other room, leaving Louis alone with his thoughts and his rapidly cooling tea. 

He's still sat there ten minutes later, trying to work out his thoughts, when Nick steps in the room.

“Everything alright?” he asks, and Louis looks up at him, takes in his outlandish jumper and hair that Louis always thinks looks ridiculous but also would probably feel soft if he ran his hands through it. He looks at Nick’s kind eyes and his mouth that is always so quick to smile at Louis, and he comes to a decision.

“Yeah,” he says, standing. He walks over to Nick and grabs his hand. “Come with me?”

*

He takes Nick out back, walks him to the very edge of the property, where there's an old wooden fence that separates their land from Mrs. Reynolds next door. The sun sets quickly on Donny, at the edge of the system as it is, and the sky is already turning shades of burnt orange as Louis hips up to sit on the fence, Nick leaning on his elbows next to him.

“I used to come out here,” Louis says lowly, loathe to break the peaceful silence he's missed since he's been gone. “When I was a kid and the house felt too crowded or I’d gotten in a fight with some kid at school. When the sun's down properly you can see all the stars, and I used to look up at them and think about running away.”

“And you did?” Nick asks. Louis sighs.

“Yeah, when I was 18. There wasn't really anything forcing me to, you know, I love my family and hated to think I let them down, but one day I looked around and realized I could see myself spending the rest of my life here with nothing changing, never getting to explore like I wanted, and that scared me a lot. So I stowed away on the next trade ship that came through and never came back.”

“It’s a pattern for you, then? Stowing away?”

“Only when necessary,” Louis says haughtily, turning to Nick with a sniff only to realize that Nick’s face is much closer to him than before.

“I'm glad you did, you know,” Nick whispers, eyes darting between Louis’ own, and maybe, _maybe_ , down to his lips too. Louis remembers the conversation with his mum in the kitchen, thinks about taking risks to see the stars.

“Me too,” he says, and leans in to kiss Nick.

*

Two days later they're running out of reasons to stay in Donny, having helped out wherever they were needed--Harry gave out clinic checks to the kids and the elders in the town, Liam was lent out to three different people to fix whatever had broken around their farms, Jade and the girls had taught defense techniques to practically the whole town, and Niall had helped teach better cruiser piloting techniques. 

Louis has spent the time with his family, helping his mum out with new babies, and wrapped up in Nick. Nick, who refuses to let Louis be awkward about their kiss and instead insists on kissing him whenever he gets the chance to, usually causing catcalls from whoever’s nearest. Louis would protest, but the smile on Nick’s face when he pulls back makes him rethink. 

It’s that same smile in his mind as he says goodbye to his family (temporarily, this time, Lottie had made sure he wouldn’t go so long without checking in ever again), even though he knows they want him to stay. But Louis has another family now, with Nick and Niall and Liam and Harry and Jesy and Jade and Perrie and Leigh-Anne. So he gives his siblings and his mum kisses and hugs and then turns to Nick and takes his hand.

“C’mon, you gonna take me to the stars or what?” he says, and Nick laughs, and Louis thinks it might be the best sound in the galaxy. 


End file.
